Thing #9 My question is: Where do people get all the time that they must spend doing this FLICKR stuff???? I don't see anything that would be useful in the library and I certainly won't spend my free time peering into people's lives.
Using Flickr doesn't really take much time at all. I have the Flickr uploader app on my computer and I drag and drop and upload - done!
As a librarian working in the vendor world, it's how I keep up with my colleagues around the world. I recently was in NY and got to meet up with two colleagues I hadn't seen in a year and yet we were able to talk as if we'd been together all the time because of our social networking and Flickr pictures.
As for libraries, it puts a human face on libraries and as librarians we're always hiding behind the scenes and I think we need to get in front of the camera and show that we're just the same as everyone else.
Sorry if that was a bit ranty, but I'm still tired :) hehe
Flickr, just like other Web 2.0 sites, allows your library another way to access their customers and allows your customers another way to access you. By being out there were the customers/borrowers/patrons are (and there are certainly a lot on Flickr) you can bring them back to your site or physically into the building. Libraries can non longer just expect people to come to them - we need to go out there where the people are and bring them back.
Many libraries have the vision/mission to be a part of the community. By being part of an online community such as Flickr we can encourage, educate and intrigue customers to come into our buildings by posting photos of events, storytimes or just general images of our beautiful libraries.
Do a search on Flickr for Howard County Library. You will find pictures that have been tagged by the library itself (official account), staff members and the public. I love that the public includes us in their tags - free publicity!
Good luck with the rest of your Learning 2.0. I support, encourage, love this initiative (we did in it 2007 in Maryland).
Our digitization outfit uses Flickr to expand the reach of our materials. We are quite chuffed by the success of those measures; materials we put on Flickr get more use, more comments, more interest.
I personally use Flickr (alongside useful search tools such as Flickr Storm to find Creative Commons-licensed images I can use in presentations. Down with boring PowerPoint!
As for "where do I find the time" -- this is, as it always is, a matter of priorities. If it's not more important than the least important thing you do in a day, don't bother with it.
Lots of archives use it to disseminate digitized photographs. My wife is an archivist who has recently set up a Flickr stream, and among other things she's using it to help "crowdsource" identification of unknown photos.
And as Nicole says, I use Flickr and don't see it as taking up any time at all. Take pictures now and then, upload them now and then (which takes a few seconds), and your friends can easily see them. That's it.
4 comments:
Nancy,
Using Flickr doesn't really take much time at all. I have the Flickr uploader app on my computer and I drag and drop and upload - done!
As a librarian working in the vendor world, it's how I keep up with my colleagues around the world. I recently was in NY and got to meet up with two colleagues I hadn't seen in a year and yet we were able to talk as if we'd been together all the time because of our social networking and Flickr pictures.
As for libraries, it puts a human face on libraries and as librarians we're always hiding behind the scenes and I think we need to get in front of the camera and show that we're just the same as everyone else.
Sorry if that was a bit ranty, but I'm still tired :) hehe
Flickr, just like other Web 2.0 sites, allows your library another way to access their customers and allows your customers another way to access you. By being out there were the customers/borrowers/patrons are (and there are certainly a lot on Flickr) you can bring them back to your site or physically into the building. Libraries can non longer just expect people to come to them - we need to go out there where the people are and bring them back.
Many libraries have the vision/mission to be a part of the community. By being part of an online community such as Flickr we can encourage, educate and intrigue customers to come into our buildings by posting photos of events, storytimes or just general images of our beautiful libraries.
Do a search on Flickr for Howard County Library. You will find pictures that have been tagged by the library itself (official account), staff members and the public. I love that the public includes us in their tags - free publicity!
Good luck with the rest of your Learning 2.0. I support, encourage, love this initiative (we did in it 2007 in Maryland).
Nancy,
Our digitization outfit uses Flickr to expand the reach of our materials. We are quite chuffed by the success of those measures; materials we put on Flickr get more use, more comments, more interest.
I personally use Flickr (alongside useful search tools such as Flickr Storm to find Creative Commons-licensed images I can use in presentations. Down with boring PowerPoint!
As for "where do I find the time" -- this is, as it always is, a matter of priorities. If it's not more important than the least important thing you do in a day, don't bother with it.
The Library of Congress seems to disagree with your point of view. :)
Lots of archives use it to disseminate digitized photographs. My wife is an archivist who has recently set up a Flickr stream, and among other things she's using it to help "crowdsource" identification of unknown photos.
And as Nicole says, I use Flickr and don't see it as taking up any time at all. Take pictures now and then, upload them now and then (which takes a few seconds), and your friends can easily see them. That's it.
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